


High Hopes (What Happens Next?)

by megan_waffles



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Caitlin Snow is the best friend a girl could ask for, Diggle gives good hugs, F/M, Laurel is also a really awesome friend, Megan can't tag for shit, felicity's hurting, he means well, oliver's keeping secrets (again), the return of Carrie Cutter, weekend getaway at Central City
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-28 00:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6305701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megan_waffles/pseuds/megan_waffles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of finding out about William, Felicity retreats to Central City to clear her head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	High Hopes (What Happens Next?)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my terrible best friend/muse who gave me this terrible prompt.

Felicity had made a small mess.

If a small mess meant drawn curtains, an unmade bed, an empty liqueur bottle on the floor, and the contents of her purse dumped on the floor. And she didn't even want to think about how she looked or how she _smelled_.

Her mind told her that she really should get up and tidy the cozy guest room in Caitlin's apartment, but she couldn't move.

Oliver had a son.

Felicity wasn't mad that Oliver had a son. When she found out, she felt her heart break.

She was mad that Oliver had a son that he didn't tell her about.

Trust. That was what the relationship was based on. Or so she thought. She more than understood why Samantha didn't want Oliver telling anyone, but how could he have kept such an earth-shattering truth like this from her?

Felicity had left the loft with only her purse, the clothes on her back, and not a tear in her eye. She hailed a cab and got on a train to Central City, and still, in that five hour trip, she didn't cry once. It was only when she knocked on Caitlin Snow's door at quarter to midnight on a cold Friday that the floodgates opened and everything she had been suppressing since she found out about William came out in a heart-wrenching sob.

Caitlin Snow was a godsend. She didn’t push. She didn’t ask questions. She didn’t try to reason Oliver’s decision. Caitlin gave her a hot mug of tea, a warm bed, a change of clothes, a comforting embrace, and an open ear.

It was now Sunday. Felicity had only stepped outside of the security of the spare room a handful of times. Caitlin had been working endless hours at Star Labs helping Team Flash with the most recent metahuman problem, but she knew Felicity well enough to leave her alone in the apartment.

The silence and isolation created the perfect storm. Felicity hadn’t yet managed to come to terms with what had happened between herself and Oliver, and to be frank, she hadn’t expected to in such a short time. The rift that had opened between the two of them was too vast to be crossed in a two day voyage. She had, however, been able to deal with how she felt about the whole ordeal. And this made her heavy heart feel like it was being a given a hand up on a long road to recovery.

But this feeling never lasted long whenever it came to visit. She thought back to everything that happened after they returned from helping Kendra and Carter in Central City. After Oliver found out about William and didn’t tell her.

A gala. A beautiful night. Then darkness. A gas chamber. Her hero in green.

A marriage proposal.

A paralyzing injury.

Another marriage proposal. And another.

An engagement party with the most kind and thoughtful gift anyone could have given her.

If it wasn’t for Curtis, Felicity knew that she would still be in Star City. She wouldn’t have confronted Oliver about keeping such a monstrous secret from her, and that growing anger in itself would have broken them beyond repair.

Things were looking grim for them. But Felicity had hopes. High hopes, damn near impossible ones, but she still held onto them with all she could. What they had couldn’t be fixed. But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t start something new, something better.

A sharp buzz shook her from her thoughts. Laurel had been texting her throughout the weekend when Felicity hadn’t shown up. She was just as amazing as Caitlin. She didn’t ask what had happened, even though she probably knew. Laurel was wise beyond her years when it came to Oliver pissing women off. She didn’t even ask where she was. On Friday night, Felicity got one text: _Are you safe?_ After this, Laurel would send her the same message every few hours. She didn’t ask when she was coming home. She didn’t ask _if_ she was coming home. _Are you safe?_

When Felicity looked at her phone, expecting another message from Laurel, she was surprised to see an unexpected picture show up in the _Breaking News_ banner: a picture of Carrie Cutter, followed by the caption “Cupid Returns to Star City”.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Felicity groaned. Carrie was a special kind of crazy. The kind of crazy that is expected from teenage girls and not expected in grown women whatsoever.

Felicity placed her phone back on the table and rolled onto her side. She didn’t feel ready to go back to Star City just yet. But if not now, then when?

This time when her mind told her that she really should get up and tidy the cozy guest room in Caitlin's apartment, Felicity grabbed the towel left on the edge of the bed by her gracious host, and got into the shower to wash away her anger, her pain, and her fear. And that smell…

She grabbed her freshly laundered clothes that lay atop the dresser and as she got dressed, she left a mental note to come back (at a more convenient time for them both) and thank Caitlin properly. She would have waited for Caitlin to come home and thank her then, but she didn’t know when the busy member of Team Flash would return and she had a train to catch.

She opened the curtains, made the bed, grabbed the empty bottle, and left a note on the pillow for Caitlin, thanking her and promising her a new bottle of vodka. With that, she closed the door behind her, and hailed a cab to the train station.

***

As soon as she walked into the cave several hours later, Felicity knew that something was off. Oliver was off sulking in the corner with his (loveable) grumpy face while he abused the training dummy. Thea and Laurel were sparring half-heartedly from the other side of the room, watching Oliver carefully. And Diggle…

“John,” Felicity said walking to the platform, breaking the tense silence in the room as everyone turned towards her, shocked at her sudden and unexpected arrival. “I swear, if you mess with my system again…”

The man all but jumped from his and strode speedily towards Felicity, gathering the small woman in his arms in a broken-crushing hug. “I was so worried about you, Felicity. We all were.”

She pulled back, noticing the sadness in his voice. “I needed a weekend, but I’m back now.”

Oliver stood closely behind her, desperate to hold her but refraining, not knowing how she would react, not knowing how she felt. He whispered under his breath, knowing only she would hear him. “Can we talk later?”

Felicity willed herself to be strong and not fall apart. She nodded her head.

She turned around to look at the other members of her team. “So Carrie’s back, which I assume you all know based on the looks on your faces at me saying that. So what are we going to do about it?”

There was hope. It was small. It was high. But it was new. They couldn’t go back to the way things were, but maybe, just maybe, they could build something from it. They just needed to hold onto hope. Their happy ending may not be what they expected, but that’s what was going to make it so damn special.


End file.
